Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 284 Attack on Qutang Station
The deputy commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade, Dang Shousu, came to ask for an audience. He was a veteran of the Dashun Army, brave and good at fighting, and had a strong sense of the overall situation. The three commanders of the Loyalty Battalion, Li Chixin, Gao Bizheng, and Li Laiheng, managed to maintain the situation, which was inseparable from the support of Dang Shousu.

The Red Army had just incorporated the Fourth Infantry Brigade, and its commander, Li Laiheng, lacked prestige. Dang Shousu was of great importance, and Danchu had to see him.

"Shousu, it has been more than a year since we parted at Wutun last year." Dang Shousu was respectful and Danchu was also very polite.

"Last year, we broke arrows as an oath on the bank of Xunjiang River. The general kept his promise and supported our army to defend Liuzhou. Today, Liuzhou is in trouble, and the general has sent his elite troops to come to our aid and save our army from the water and fire. Now, the Loyalty Battalion has been reorganized into the Fourth Infantry Brigade of the Red Army. Laiheng and I have submitted to the famous master, and from now on, we can look forward to a promising future."

Dang Shousu was accustomed to many ups and downs, and he spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly, with the demeanor of a great general, which left a deep impression on Danchu.

"Very good, very good. The Red Army is about to launch a massive counterattack, and we need your talents."

The military situation was urgent, and Dang Shousu quickly talked about the purpose of this trip: "The Tartars have deployed heavy troops outside the north gate of Liuzhou and blocked the north gate with red cannons. I implore the general to send troops to attack the enemy at the north gate, and the four infantry regiments will open the gate and attack the enemy, and we will surely defeat the Tartars in one fell swoop."

Danchu decided to be honest with Dang Shousu and said resolutely: "There is no need to rush the counterattack. Tomorrow, the Second Infantry Brigade and the Artillery Brigade of the Imperial Guard Brigade will arrive in Liuzhou. You can then attack the Qing army camp from both inside and outside to delay the main force of Lian Guoan. Then, I will lead the Imperial Guard Brigade to the north and attack Yanguan."

Dang Shousu's eyes widened in disbelief, and he sighed, "The general is a master of military tactics, isn't he the reincarnation of Sun Wu?"

In the early morning of the 20th, a total of 4,000 soldiers and horses from the first, second and third battalions of the cavalry and personal guards broke camp, holding their mouths shut and their horses wrapped their hooves, and passed through the Qing army's defense zone, heading towards Luorong County in the distance.

At the same time, the remaining 2,000 soldiers of the Imperial Guard crossed the river and took over the camp on the north bank. The vanguard of the Second Infantry Brigade arrived at the south bank of Liujiang River and took over the camp on the south bank. The front and rear coordinated closely, like an arm working with a finger.

At dawn, the Qing army discovered something unusual and immediately fell into panic. The Red Army completed the change of guard overnight, and 4,000 cavalrymen galloped north, causing even more panic among the Lian Guoan.

There are five words in the military: fight, defend, die, flee, and surrender. Lian Guoan only has 20,000 elite soldiers. Fight, defend, die, flee, and surrender are not appropriate. He can only send out scouts to speed up the situation.

Cen Danchu led 4,000 cavalrymen and rode away to Luoqing River. At noon, the vanguard arrived at Luorong County, which is located northeast of Liuzhou and has been abandoned today.

The Qing army set up a granary here, and the food and supplies were transported downstream from the upper reaches of the Luoqing River, and then changed to land transportation in Luorong County to the front line in Liuzhou.

The grain station was an important place, so it was necessary to deploy heavy troops for defense. The Qing army sank wooden boats in the lower reaches of Luorong River to prevent the Red Army's naval warships from going upstream, and set up red cannons on the city walls to prevent the Red Army from attacking the city.

Danchu led his cavalry through Luorong, and the defenders were ready to face a formidable enemy. The chieftains and tenant soldiers had received orders to come to help. The navy took the opportunity to launch an attack, and with the help of the chieftains and tenant soldiers, they cleared the sunken ships and opened up the route.

The Red Army cavalry made a feint and rushed upstream to Luzhai (now Luzhai County). In the late Ming Dynasty, Luzhai was just a small commercial port on the bank of Luoqing River, and the Qing army only set up a station here.

That morning, four sedan bearers wearing straw sandals and straw hats were carrying a blue sedan with colored glaze inlaid on it, and they were walking very fast. There was also a 15 or 16-year-old boy, who was very handsome and dressed as a personal attendant, riding a skinny horse and walking on the left side of the sedan.

The sedan chair and the skinny horse rushed straight into Tang Station. A soldier was guarding the gate of Tang Station, yawning and holding a spear in his hand. The front line in Liuzhou was in a tight situation, and the soldiers in Tang Station were also transferred to the front line, so there were not enough people to stand guard.

In the chaos of war, not many people could afford to ride in a sedan chair. The sentry perked up and asked, "Who is it?"

The curtain of the sedan opened, and a middle-aged man in his thirties poked his head out and said, "Where is your officer? Why don't you come out to greet me?"

The middle-aged man was arrogant, and his tone was full of authority that could not be questioned. The sentry hesitated, but did not dare to contradict him, so he asked tentatively: "Sir, do you have a name card?"

The middle-aged man became impatient and said coldly: "A small Tang Station is worthy of my business card?" He was so angry that he simply lowered the curtain of the sedan chair and stopped talking to the sentry.

The young attendant leaned forward on his horse and sneered, "Sir, you are a distinguished guest in the Dingnan Palace, and you are rich in strategies and tactics. When the Dingnan King sees you, he has to address you politely. Liuzhou is in urgent need, and the commander-in-chief specially requested the Dingnan King to come over and give you some advice. When we passed by Luzhai today, why didn't you at Tang Station give us a warm reception? Didn't you receive the documents from the previous station?"

The sentry did not dare to neglect the matter and immediately knelt down to apologize: "I was blind and did not receive the document. I am sorry for offending you, sir. Please forgive me. I will go in and report it. Please wait a moment, sir."

The Qing Dynasty advocated Neo-Confucianism, consciously learned lessons from the factional struggles of the Ming Dynasty, and tried its best to maintain the dignity of the officialdom. In the Ming Dynasty, there was still room for disputes between superiors and subordinates, but in the Qing Dynasty, the relationship between superiors and subordinates was almost like that of master and servant, and subordinates rarely dared to contradict their superiors.

The Red Army scouts took advantage of this and disguised themselves as sedan chair bearers, swaggering into Tang Station.

The material officer and eight soldiers were already kneeling in a row, respectfully welcoming the gentleman.

The middle-aged gentleman still did not get out of the sedan chair and asked, "Why are there only eight soldiers in your station?"

"In reply to your Excellency, our station originally had 20 soldiers. One died of illness and one was missing. As the situation in Liuzhou was tight, eight more soldiers were transferred there. One went to Hongsha'ao to deliver a letter and the other to Luorong County to deliver a letter. There are only eight soldiers left in the station."

"Confused, confused." The middle-aged man was still in the sedan chair, sighing repeatedly: "Tang Station is responsible for transmitting military intelligence. How come there are not enough soldiers in Tang Station? If there is an emergency, how will you deal with it?"

"Uh...uh..." The officer couldn't answer and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Go to the sedan chair and answer."

"Yes." The officer bent down and came to the sedan chair. Seeing the gentleman's fierce look, he lowered his head subconsciously.

"I have a secret letter here, hastily written on the road. Send someone to Liuzhou immediately and say it's from Mr. Zhang, and it's urgent."

"Yes." The officer raised his hands, lowered his head, and was very respectful.

But there was a loud gunshot, and the officer's head exploded, with his brains splattered all over the floor.

The bearers opened the doors of the sedan chair, took out bows and arrows, and started killing the soldiers in front of them.

The incident happened suddenly, and the Qing army soldiers were caught off guard, killing five of them on the spot. The remaining few wanted to escape, but scouts were ambushed outside the station and in the stables, and shot them dead one by one.

The middle-aged gentleman was named Tan Shitai. He was originally a hereditary commander of Wutunso. Later, he surrendered to Danchu and became a detective in the Intelligence Bureau.

The outcome was decided, all nine soldiers were killed. Tan Shitai decided to kill all the servants in the station to prevent the news from leaking out.

According to the plan, the detectives would disguise themselves as Qing army soldiers and kill the soldiers passing by. Tan Shitai also found the seal of the Tang Station and sent people to pretend to be Qing army soldiers to send Tang reports to Hongshaao, Yongfu, Guilin and other places upstream, falsely claiming that the downstream was safe and sound.

(End of this chapter)